I have utilized a lot of various email list systems over the years. In the last number of years, I’ve been a big proponent of digital sovereignty and possessing your own system. For that reason (and the incredible features), I have actually been utilizing Samera Global Beehiiv.
So, it is undoubtedly an odd move for me to make a decision to make use of BeeHiiv. After all, it is a held application and I am paying regular monthly for it.
Why did I do this?
In this BeeHiiv evaluation, I intend to discuss why I made the button to BeeHiiv for my newsletters. I wish to address the problem of digital sovereignty while utilizing the system and I ‘d also such as to deal with why I chose to utilize it over Substack.
Allow’s dive in …
BeeHiiv: Built For E-newsletters
In Issue # 435 of my newsletter called My Hobby + A Big Change In Method, I spoke about exactly how and why I decided to turn my recreational vehicle blog into mostly an e-newsletter. I chose that was the business model I wanted to pursue keeping that home.
But, to deliberately seek it as a newsletter, I desired a system that was purpose-built for that. I was using FluentCRM for the email list for Gladly RV, but FluentCRM is not a newsletter platform. It is developed to be a CRM and marketing automation device and, frankly, utilizing it for newsletters is a little a waste. More on that in a little bit.
As I said because problem of the newsletter …
Put simply, BeeHiiv is a system with devices developed right into it particular to my purpose. Points such as:
- Ability to publish (to the blog site) and send the e-mail all at once without having it be 2 separate actions.
- Integrated in newsletter referral program. FluentCRM does not have that and I would require a third-party device like Sparkloop.
- Built-in ability to do cross-promotions with other newsletters on the BeeHiiv platform.
- ” Magic Links”, which are primarily one-click membership links. Great for promo in other newsletters. FluentCRM has Smart Hyperlinks, though, so there are ways to do that.
- Capability to do paid “boosts” on the BeeHiiv network to advertise your e-newsletter.
- Built-in advertisement network, if I select to generate income from with ads in the e-newsletter. And I may.
- Built-in ability to run a paid newsletter upgrade and generally run a costs e-newsletter. And BeeHiiv doesn’t take a cut.
Essentially, BeeHiiv is purpose-built for newsletter publishers with features focused on growth. The platform was actually constructed by the people that accumulated the modern technology for Early morning Mixture. They recognize what they’re doing.
That is the point here. BeeHiiv is built from the ground up for the purpose of running a newsletter. FluentCRM has a various function.
And I ended off with this:.
I may certainly be relocating The Edge over to BeeHiiv as well. At the very least, I’m strongly considering it.
Well, I really did not consider it for long. Actually, I simply went for it. And in fact, The EDGE was re-branded over to The Early morning WP, set off as it’s very own property to make sure that I can grow it much more intentionally also.
The objective is that each e-newsletter has the capacity to be branded as it’s very own media entity and grown individually. Happily RV was young, so simple to change. However, The Morning WP (previously The Side) was buried in a sea of things here at the Blog Site Marketing Academy. By dividing it off, I can do what I can to grow it on it’s own. It will certainly constantly be very closely linked with the Blog Marketing Academy, but does not need to belong of it.
I changed to BeeHiiv because it was constructed for this function. FluentCRM was not.
E-newsletters Versus Just A Normal Email List
There’s a difference in between an e-newsletter system and simply an e-mail listing.
You can host your email list everywhere you desire and there are a number of them available, from Aweber, ActiveCampaign, Drip, ConvertKit … over to self-hosted choices like GroundHogg and FluentCRM.
What’s the distinction?
The main distinction is that, with a newsletter platform, the act of posting implies that it is mosting likely to your internet site and to your email customers simultaneously.
With both BeeHiiv and Substack, you have a site. You are releasing to that website. However, you are additionally sending off to all customers at the same time. The site and it’s customers are all in one. This makes monitoring of the platform much easier.
With most email platforms, any kind of newsletter you established is done as an email campaign. It is constructed totally independently from your site. So, for example, you might publish an article to WordPress however after that you would certainly need to separately construct and send out an e-mail to your checklist to send it to subscribers. These are then 2 separate sets of archives and 2 different actions because article and your emails are not naturally linked.
The closest point that transforms WordPress right into a real e-newsletter platform is Newsletter Glue.
It is a suitable name due to the fact that it pretty much “adhesives” your newsletter to your WordPress blog posts and permits them to be the exact same thing. Certainly, something like E-newsletter Glue would certainly be a solid option if I intended to continue to self-host everything. Nevertheless, you would certainly shed the growth tools that include a platform like BeeHiiv.
Posting an e-newsletter inherently includes a various collection of demands than a typical e-mail checklist.
You do not usually need much marketing automation. You do not generally require autoresponder series, occasion tracking, and all the bells and whistles of a marketing automation system.
What you DO need, though, is one smooth posting experience and growth tools to aid you develop your subscriber base that specify to e-newsletters.
BeeHiiv vs Substack
When I revealed to my clients that I was going to switch the newsletter over to BeeHiiv, I had lots of people ask me why I was picking it over Substack.
To be clear, also besides the fact that I chose to opt for BeeHiiv, that doesn’t imply I assume Substack sucks. As a matter of fact, since Substack has actually been about much longer, it is elder and has more features.
Although BeeHiiv is younger, there are a couple points that initially got my attention:.
- BeeHiiv is specifically customized to newsletter publishers. In fact, it is essentially built by the exact same individuals who developed the technology behind Early morning Brew. On the other hand, SubStack targets writers. In the real world, does not matter. However, the noticeable positioning of BeeHiiv toward newsletter development called me out over the more common positioning of being a “developer”. Development is what I have an interest in below.
- That branding and differentiation likewise indicates that BeeHiiv has some relatively large brands and big publications utilizing it. Whereas SubStack is intended even more at solo designers. Once more, it just tells me the customer avatar distinction in between both companies.
Sending our my newsletter by means of FluentCRM didn’t specifically suck. The only reason I would certainly consider drinking things up is if I believed I might GROW the list faster. And BeeHiiv spoke exactly to that objective.
Due to the targeting, I really don’t check out BeeHiiv and Substack as straight rivals. I believe BeeHiiv is targeting a various sort of consumer. Actually, if anything, I see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being extra straight rivals.
However, allow’s dive much deeper than simply the placing right here.
Things That Make BeeHiiv Better Than Substack
Overall, BeeHiiv appears like it was built by people who understanding e-mail marketing. On the other hand, SubStack appears extra tailored toward developers.
For example, BeeHiiv provides custom fields on clients. Currently, it isn’t as established as something like FluentCRM. But, it has it. Substack does not.
BeeHiiv provides Automations. As a matter of fact, it is a visual automation builder that works a great deal like what we have inside of FluentCRM.
To be clear, the automation capability is still early-phase. It is still quite limited in triggers and the only activity is the capacity to send out an email. However, enhancements are coming. Soon enough, automations will have new triggers in addition to new activities, such as modifying personalized areas, sending webhooks, and so on. I have actually already seen enhancements to their automations simply given that I started making use of the platform. For instance:
- Capacity to cause automations based on which details embed type they can be found in on.
- Ability to automatically do re-engagement (and handle people based on opens and non-opens).
- Ability to do standard conditional logic branches.
Substack does not have automations like this. Likely, it never will. Substack simply can not do this since the target market of Substack just would not think to approach this like an e-mail marketing professional.
When it involves composing your e-newsletters, the composing user interface of BeeHiiv is simply more geared toward newsletters. As a matter of fact, it really has resemblances to the WordPress block builder in how it works. I find it to be more user-friendly, personally.
Substack’s creating interface behaves and tidy, yet it would be a lot more equivalent to the traditional editor for WordPress. Toolbar on top.
This difference is more than just kind. As an example, with BeeHiiv you can insert a “Section” and after that placed anything you want in it. Then, you can put Exposure options on that particular section to show it just to paid clients, hide it from e-mail, hide from subscribers, show just to subscribers, etc. Substack supplies nothing similar to this.
And when/if the time comes that I start a costs membership version, BeeHiiv doesn’t take any kind of income. As a matter of fact, you literally connect approximately your own Stripe account and it bills straight to it. With Substack, they will certainly take 10% of your profits. Relying on the amount of subscribers you obtain, that 10% can be quite a bit even more cash than the regular monthly expense of BeeHiiv.
Finally, BeeHiiv has an API. This may seem nerdy, yet what it means is that there are integrations with BeeHiiv. You can in fact make BeeHiiv collaborate with the outside utilizing tools like Zapier or Make.com. This is HUGE. Substack actually has … absolutely nothing. No integrations in all.
Generally, I simply felt like BeeHiiv was more developed towards actual e-mail marketing. It was built by individuals who “get it”. Also the opt-in types and the landing page creates seem far better developed for conversions. Development is the name of the game with BeeHiiv.
Although there are still features I want to see BeeHiiv add, I like the direction it is going greater than Substack.
Points That Make Substack Better Than BeeHiiv
As I have actually claimed, Substack settings itself toward “designers” more than email marketing professionals and newsletter proprietors. Therefore, you see some points tailored more toward people who simply believe in terms of content development.
For instance, Substack sustains podcasts. BeeHiiv does not.
Likewise, while BeeHiiv does support multiple publications, they are dealt with quite individually. Whereas Substack does have the capability to cross-post to several magazines at the same time. This isn’t something I need, however … cool for individuals that might need it.
Substack also has even more social functionality built-in. For instance, it has a conversation function to host talks with clients. It also has a “Notes” feature which works type of like a social media newsfeed where you can share things from other “Stacks” you read. Intriguing. Generally, Substack is established to be extra like a social network which sustains long-form content.
In general, Substack is also a lot more … minimal. You either look after that or don’t. Directly, I do not. Nonetheless, if the objective is simpleness of user interface and, frankly, features … Substack works pretty well.
But, I’ll be clear right here …
When it concerns real marketing, I don’t think there’s much question that BeeHiiv is much better suited. I searched for even more factors that make Substack much better than BeeHiiv, but honestly … I have a difficult time locating them.
BeeHiiv Vs ConvertKit
While BeeHiiv and Substack are frequently via to be the closest competitors, I in fact see BeeHiiv and ConvertKit being the closer opponents. Both are pursuing the same target audience and have similar abilities.
ConvertKit is likewise placed at designers (like Substack), yet it is much more strongly accommodating individuals that do it for business. ConvertKit has good visual automation building, it’s very own commerce platform, and more. ConvertKit is a truly wonderful system.
I’m not mosting likely to bore you with a complete feature-by-feature failure here. ConvertKit is well known currently. However, right here’s exactly how I feel BeeHiiv and ConvertKit contrast …
Things ConvertKit Is Better At …
Already, ConvertKit has much more versatility when it comes to it’s automations. I will certainly also state that I discover ConvertKit’s automation builder to be a bit more user-friendly than that of BeeHiiv.
ConvertKit supports labeling. This is just a basic feature of e-mail listings that enables segmentation in an even more versatile means than BeeHiiv currently does. I anticipate BeeHiiv to support marking at some point quickly, frankly. It feels like an oversight that it is missing Samera Global Beehiiv.
ConvertKit does now offer the capacity to market points through their own platform. BeeHiiv does not. If that is necessary to you, it may be a big deal for you. For me, however, I would constantly pick a more direct alternative anyway. For me, I choose to utilize my own platform powered by WooCommerce.
ConvertKit has actually been about much longer and for that reason has way more integration alternatives. Tons of web-based devices and WordPress plugins incorporate with ConvertKit. ConvertKit also has their very own WordPress plugin that is fairly effective. For instance, their plugin now also sustains member-gated content in addition to auto-embed of your e-newsletter archives right into your site. Essentially, this much more closely puts ConvertKit into straight competitors by having you have the ability to publish to your site and your email list at the same time.
BeeHiiv is seriously doing not have in these type of third-party integrations at the moment. It’ll get there. Yet, we’re not there yet with it.
ConvertKit is also hectic tackling the growth tools of BeeHiiv. As an example, BeeHiiv has the referral program and the Referral Engine where you can not only incentivize individuals to share your e-newsletter with rewards, yet you can also pay per lead within the internal advertisement network of BeeHiiv to expand your list. These are really amazing features of BeeHiiv. But …
Did you understand ConvertKit acquired Sparkloop? Sparkloop is among the most popular viral promotion systems for newsletters … and ConvertKit bought it. You can see the creating on the wall surface for what this means for the platform moving forward.
Points BeeHiiv Is Much Better At … Samera Global Beehiiv
BeeHiiv is much earlier in it’s product cycle than ConvertKit. Part of that means much less features and less integrations, which is all-natural for this stage of the cycle. Nevertheless, it additionally suggests that they are rapidly developing.
In the short time that I have been a customer of BeeHiiv, I have observed almost once a week release of brand-new features right into the platform. And these aren’t undersized little features … yet big features that are quite crucial. Their rate of development at this moment has actually been impressive.
I likewise quite value just how receptive they are. As a matter of fact, one of their item announcements regarding some layout enhancements to the website design features really had a little problem with the material size. I simply replied to that email to tell them. I rapidly got a reply straight from the CEO:.
That exact same day, the concern was fixed.
Few days later on, I provided another idea …
Certainly, in a little bit over a week of that exchange, the capability to cause automations based upon the embed type used was contributed to the system.
That kind of responsiveness and straight participation of the team is something I actually appreciate.
One more significant point of distinction below is the price. Both systems supply complimentary plans, nonetheless the BeeHiiv free plan offers much more capability and more subscribers (2,500 vs 1,000) than ConvertKit.
When you most likely to paid plans, the pricing of BeeHiiv is also much more beneficial. ConvertKit appears less expensive initially glance since their pricing page shows reduced numbers, nonetheless the customer limits are much reduced and your price promptly enhances as your list expands.
With BeeHiiv, your very first degree paid plan starts at $42/mo (paid yearly), however you can have up to 10,000 subscribers. That same size checklist is mosting likely to run you $100/month with ConvertKit.
If you update to the “Scale” plan with BeeHiiv (their best plan and the one I personally use), you can expand your checklist up to 100,000. A checklist of that dimension would certainly run you $566/month with ConvertKit. If you desire their referral network, too, that places you at the $733/month plan. That’s if you pay every year, also. With BeeHiiv, you can get all that for simply $84/month if you pay yearly.
BeeHiiv is in an entirely various organization when it comes to pricing (in a good way).
Will BeeHiiv at some point increase prices? They might as time goes on. But, I’m presuming people like myself that are already in will be locked-in. We’ll see how things proceed.
Things I Would Certainly Like BeeHiiv To Include
One of the things you definitely need to bear in mind is that BeeHiiv is relatively young. They do seem to advance rather promptly and make brand-new product statements rather typically, however there are some standard features I really wish they had that I require to just wait for.
One is that they require to have a setup on membership types where I might choose an automation to run right at the kind degree. That would be outstanding for numerous reasons. As of now, membership forms look OK, yet there’s very little setups for them to help in division.
It would certainly be nice to have marking at the customer degree. This would be effective.
I believe webhooks should become part of automations to make integrated automations less complicated and decrease reliance on outdoors devices like Zapier.
There are also some small administrative interface adjustments that would certainly be handy. For instance:
- Capability to bulk edit/remove customers.
- Capacity to bulk edit messages (for instance, to label a bunch of them at the same time).
- Having a few fundamental fields as common on subscribers (like the name).
- Some more modification choices for the internet site (such as even more flexible shade selections, headline control, and so on).
So, yeah … there are some shortcomings. Things I hope they finish with it in the near future. BeeHiiv is pretty good, but it isn’t excellent and absolutely not nearly as developed as something like FluentCRM or any other genuine CRM product.
It possibly never will certainly be, either. As I stated, the function is various so it would not a lot a lot of feeling for BeeHiiv to become a complete marketing automation platform. I guess you never know, however.
Last Ideas On This BeeHiiv Review
I such as BeeHiiv rather a lot. Enough where I chose to switch my very own e-newsletters over to the system in spite of my personal preference for digital sovereignty and having my very own system.
Basically, for the newsletter posting version specifically, I saw enough worth in their platform to require the adjustment.
Keep in mind, I do not make use of BeeHiiv as my special email listing. I use BeeHiiv for what it is efficient, yet I purposefully have points set up to make sure that I additionally maintain my list “in home” within FluentCRM.
If you utilize BeeHiiv, I suggest you do the very same. It is just an excellent insurance plan, for one. But, having a full-featured marketing automation platform for your list will be of high usage (FluentCRM is a complete marketing automation system and BeeHiiv is not and likely never will be).
So, the question is … should YOU utilize BeeHiiv?
In my point of view, if you are using Substack now, I ‘d certainly consider switching over to BeeHiiv. It will merely be more business-friendly. It is targeting various abilities and different requirements. And also, BeeHiiv also has import tools for Substack, so the switch must be rather simple.
If you are on ConvertKit now, I ‘d probably sit tight unless you have a large e-mail listing and are therefore being wooled with their high regular monthly bill. You will not (yet) have every feature of ConvertKit with BeeHiiv, however they are repeating swiftly. There’s additionally a respectable possibility you’re not also using several of those fancier functions of ConvertKit and you do not even need them. Therefore, BeeHiiv can easily be a much better and a lot more cost effective fit.
Last but not least, if you plan to be very deliberate about expanding an e-newsletter, I believe BeeHiiv is THE system to take into consideration and keep and eye on for you.
If you use BeeHiiv with eyes wide open regarding what it is designed to be, it is just one of the most effective games in the area today. This is the system to watch.
BeeHiiv uses a 14-day trial on their paid plans. It is worth having a look at on your own. And if you end up not sticking to the paid plan, you’ll find the free account to be quite feature rich.